Series: Princeton Studies in International History and Politics

The Spectre of War examines a subject we thought we knew—the roots of the Second World War—and challenges our assumptions with a masterful new interpretation. Beyond traditional explanations based on diplomatic failures or military might, Jonathan Haslam explores the neglected thread connecting them all: the fear of Communism prevalent across continents during the interwar period. Marshalling an array of archival...

How and why China has pursued information-age weapons to gain leverage against its adversaries How can states use military force to achieve their political aims without triggering a catastrophic nuclear war? Among the states facing this dilemma of fighting limited wars, only China has given information-age weapons such a prominent role. While other countries have preferred the traditional options of...

Why populations brutalised in war elect their tormentors One of the great puzzles of electoral politics is how parties that commit mass atrocities in war often win the support of victimised populations to establish the postwar political order. Violent Victors traces how parties derived from violent, wartime belligerents successfully campaign as the best providers of future societal peace, attracting votes...

The Spectre of War looks at a subject we thought we knew—the roots of the Second World War—and upends our assumptions with a masterful new interpretation. Looking beyond traditional explanations based on diplomatic failures or military might, Jonathan Haslam explores the neglected thread connecting them all: the fear of Communism prevalent across continents during the interwar period. Marshalling an array...

The first systematic look at the different strategies that states employ in their pursuit of nuclear weapons Much of the work on nuclear proliferation has focused on why states pursue nuclear weapons. The question of how states pursue nuclear weapons has received little attention. Seeking the Bomb is the first book to analyse this topic by examining which strategies of...

A novel theory of how technological revolutions affect the rise and fall of great powers. When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that centre the moment of innovation—the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, Jeffrey Ding offers a...

An Economist Biggest Book of the Year How commerce determines whether America preserves the peace or goes to war When the Cold War ended, many believed that expanding trade would usher in an era of peace. Yet today the United States finds itself confronting not just Russia in Europe but China in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Shedding new...

What changes in China's modern defence policy reveal about military organisations and strategy. Active Defense offers the first systematic look at China's military strategy from the mid-twentieth century to today. Exploring the range and intensity of threats that China has faced, M. Taylor Fravel illuminates the nation's past and present military goals. This book provides a rich set of cases...

The end of the Cold War was a "big bang" reminiscent of earlier moments after major wars, such as the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the end of the World Wars in 1919 and 1945. Here John Ikenberry asks the question, what do states that win wars do with their newfound power and how do they use...

How the racist legacy of colonialism shapes global migration. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 officially ended the explicit prejudice in American immigration policy that began with the 1790 restriction on naturalisation to free White persons of 'good character'. By the 1980s, the rest of the Anglo-European world had followed suit, purging discriminatory language from their immigration laws and...

An Economist Biggest Book of the Year How commerce determines whether America preserves the peace or goes to war When the Cold War ended, many believed that expanding trade would usher in an era of peace. Yet today the United States finds itself confronting not just Russia in Europe but China in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Shedding new...

The complex and multifaceted relationship between economic factors and conflict. In this book, Stephen Brooks provides a systematic empirical and theoretical examination of how economic factors influence security affairs. Empirically, he analyses how economic variables of all kinds affect interstate war, terrorism, and civil war; in total, sixteen pathways are examined. Brooks shows that the relationship between economic factors and...